Biography

I am founder of the early-stage startup GOLD Comedy, a multiplatform community of comedy makers where girls and women get the tools to find their funny and the places to share it with the world.

I am an award-winning journalist/novelist whose writing has measurably shifted perceptions of violence against young women and led to new federal protections for them. I am author of 6 humorous fiction and non-fiction books, including Death By Chick Lit and Breakup Girl to the Rescue! My writing—on gender, culture, and a range of social issues—has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Salon, Glamour, and a 25-year career’s worth of national newspapers, magazines, and anthologies.

I am co-creator, with Chris Kalb, of the award-winning Breakup Girl, the superhero who saves the world by saving your love life, and who appeared online (in 1997, when only NASA had the Internet!), on TV, in books, and on stage. Chris and I (and “Team BG”) built the brand from a character we developed for a book into a multimedia entity with a massive cult following that was acquired by Oxygen (with us as executive producers), where it became the first animated series ever to launch simultaneously online and on TV.

I am former VP of Communications at the global human rights organization Breakthrough; my blend of humor and advocacy drove some of the U.S. program’s most visible and effective programming, including “Be That Guy” animations screened by NASCAR and the Indy 500. I conceived and continue to lead creative strategy and curate talent for Breakthrough’s Dudes Against Violence Against Women: Because DUH, the live comedy series that reached more than 38 million and increased revenue 400% by year three.

A standup comic and storyteller who performed all over the city (and beyond) for more than a decade, I co-produced and starred in Gotham Comedy Club’s longest-running, always sold-out variety show, Breakup Girl LIVE. My two-woman show (with Betsy Fast), Lynn Harris on Ice, sold out its off-off-Broadway run in 2002.

I founded and taught Mediabistro’s class in Humor Writing for Journalists. I have appeared on TV and radio a jillion times, including as a Tonya Harding lookalike, which is a long story.